Once again, we are seeing just how vulnerable many companies are that pay too little attention to the issue of resilience: the export restrictions that China has decided on and introduced for rare earth metals in order to secure its own supply and as an incentive to relocate processing plants to China are hitting companies worldwide hard.
The 17 elements that make up rare earth metals are indispensable for many key technologies used in both civilian and military applications. They are needed, for example, for LEDs and for the red component in the RGB spectrum in tube and plasma screens (europium), for luminous numerals (promethium), but also as permanent magnets for generators and electric motors (neodymium, samarium, holmium), for catalytic converters and soot particle filters (cerium), in turbines and fuel cells (lanthanum and scandium), as neodymium), for laser technology (erbium), for stadium lighting (scandium) and for fiber optic cables (also erbium), but also for protective glass and polishing agents (cerium). These few examples alone give an idea of the extent to which the demand for rare earth metals is growing with digitalization and the activities associated with the energy transition.
Despite this high dependence on these indispensable elements, most processors worldwide have placed themselves in a ruinous dependency on China and have not taken sufficient precautions to ensure supply outside of China.
Wolfgang Niederkamp, member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), said in a recent interview published by Deutschlandfunk this morning that the problem is not a lack of awareness, but a lack of implementation. For cost reasons, but also because of a lack of strategic considerations for developing a business model for recycling and the circular economy, companies are leaving themselves vulnerable in terms of their resilience.
Rare earth deposits are not only found in China, but also in Australia, the USA, Greenland, Canada, and Sweden. Form partnerships in which you can jointly initiate initiatives for the extraction of rare earth metals and the processing of these key resources. As a side effect, you can also contribute to reducing environmental problems, in particular the large quantities of sludge contaminated with acids and heavy metals and in some cases even radioactive contamination associated with the extraction of rare earth metals in China.
What applies to rare earth metals, and what we are now becoming so acutely aware of, also applies to other raw materials and feedstocks. Analyze your supply chains and develop alternatives in good time. We would be happy to support you in this.